Scruffy's Vet Bills
Donation protected
***Please read until the end for all the information and a disclaimer.***
Wendy's Place Cat Rescue is the result of over a decade of individual rescue work. We have been operating as a rescue for approximately two years now.
Scruffy is a semi-feral cat who showed up in our driveway a few months ago. In mid-May, we trapped her and took her to a vet. She was emaciated, she had some bad teeth and she was estimated to be an older cat. When we took her in for her spay appointment we were surprised to find out that she was already spayed. Based on her behavior, we can only assume that she was owned by someone at one time, but had clearly been living on the streets, on her own, for a long enough time to become feral. She had some teeth pulled, and bloodwork done at this appointment, and we found out that she has hyperthyroidism. She began taking medicine for her thyroid.
About 3 weeks later, she stopped eating and had trouble breathing. An emergency vet appointment, followed by a transfer to an internal medicine specialist found that she has asthma, an extremely low number of white blood cells, along with some kind of infection in her lungs. She was hospitalized, put on oxygen, given IV fluids, given 3 different antibiotics for the infection, and a steroid for the asthma.
After a few days, Scruffy came home, where she seemed to get better while she finished all of her antibiotics.
Then, two days after finishing the antibiotics, she crashed again (two weeks after her first crash). She was rushed back to the emergency vet, where they found that her white blood cell count is even lower now - to the point of being almost non-existent, and she still has an infection in her lungs, which is likely pneumonia. The emergency vets and the internal medicine vets are extremely concerned about her lack of white blood cells. She is negative for FIV and FeLV. If she had tested positive for one or both, it might have been a potential cause for the low WBC count. The other potential cause is some kind of cancer. Because of the lack of white blood cells, her body isn't capable of fighting off the pneumonia infection. Further diagnostic testing would be invasive and she is unlikely to survive it.
We were on the verge of opting to euthanize her, when we got a tip from a friend. It turns out that a rare, but serious side effect to Scruffy's thyroid medicine is the depletion of white blood cells. We aren't 100% sure that this is the cause of it with her, but it seems like a very likely probability. Her WBC count was in the high normal range prior to her starting her thyroid medicine. After starting the medicine, it dropped to a dangerous level. It is now a possibility that is being looked into. Today, after 3 days of not taking her thyroid medicine, her WBC count is starting to go back up.
In the meantime though, Scruffy continues to fight pneumonia and her prognosis right now isn't good. Pneumonia is hard to fight in general, and her body is in a position where it may not be able to fight it off at all. She still has a fever and she hasn't eaten anything in 3 days. She remains hospitalized, and our vet bills continue to grow and grow.
Knowing what we know now, about the possibility of the thyroid medicine causing the underlying issue, we don't feel that euthanasia is the right option for now. (We are also unsure why two emergency vets and two internal specialist vets didn't even consider the idea that the thyroid medicine was causing a problem. But that's an issue for another day. Right now our goal is to get Scruffy healthy and get our bills paid.) We feel that we need to give her a fighting chance to pull through this because if she does, she will still have a chance at a good quality of life. Right now, we are expecting the worst but hoping for the best. If she gets to a point where the only humane option is euthanasia, we won't hesitate to take her out of her pain. We have no intention of letting her suffer if we learn that there is nothing more that we can do to help her.
We run a cat rescue and currently have 16 other cats to take care of (10 adoptable cats, 1 feral cat, and 1 mama cat and her 4 newborns). This doesn't include the outside feral cats that we feed and TNR (Trap, Neuter, Return) or our 7 personal cats. While this area is in the height of kitten season, Scruffy's vet bills are putting us in a situation where we are unable to take in or help any more cats because we are no longer in a financial position to do so. By the time this is all done, we are looking at a total bill of close to $10,000 for all of her vet visits, hospitalizations and treatments.
Every dollar helps us help Scruffy. If you would prefer to donate through PayPal please contact us for the correct email address. We also have an Amazon Wish List linked on our Instagram and Facebook pages (@wendysplacecatrescue). Food and litter are items that we are constantly in need of. Every donation from our wish list frees up money in our pockets to put towards Scruffy's bills. In short, ANYTHING helps. If you are unable to donate, sharing this fundraiser helps too.
We couldn't run this rescue without support from you. We are eternally grateful to everyone who has supported us in this journey thus far!
***DISCLAIMER*** Please know and understand that Wendy's Place Cat Rescue is NOT a 501c3 non-profit organization. We are in the process of getting our paperwork together to incorporate as a non-profit, but at the moment we are still unofficial. Therefore, your donations will NOT be tax deductible.
Wendy's Place Cat Rescue is the result of over a decade of individual rescue work. We have been operating as a rescue for approximately two years now.
Scruffy is a semi-feral cat who showed up in our driveway a few months ago. In mid-May, we trapped her and took her to a vet. She was emaciated, she had some bad teeth and she was estimated to be an older cat. When we took her in for her spay appointment we were surprised to find out that she was already spayed. Based on her behavior, we can only assume that she was owned by someone at one time, but had clearly been living on the streets, on her own, for a long enough time to become feral. She had some teeth pulled, and bloodwork done at this appointment, and we found out that she has hyperthyroidism. She began taking medicine for her thyroid.
About 3 weeks later, she stopped eating and had trouble breathing. An emergency vet appointment, followed by a transfer to an internal medicine specialist found that she has asthma, an extremely low number of white blood cells, along with some kind of infection in her lungs. She was hospitalized, put on oxygen, given IV fluids, given 3 different antibiotics for the infection, and a steroid for the asthma.
After a few days, Scruffy came home, where she seemed to get better while she finished all of her antibiotics.
Then, two days after finishing the antibiotics, she crashed again (two weeks after her first crash). She was rushed back to the emergency vet, where they found that her white blood cell count is even lower now - to the point of being almost non-existent, and she still has an infection in her lungs, which is likely pneumonia. The emergency vets and the internal medicine vets are extremely concerned about her lack of white blood cells. She is negative for FIV and FeLV. If she had tested positive for one or both, it might have been a potential cause for the low WBC count. The other potential cause is some kind of cancer. Because of the lack of white blood cells, her body isn't capable of fighting off the pneumonia infection. Further diagnostic testing would be invasive and she is unlikely to survive it.
We were on the verge of opting to euthanize her, when we got a tip from a friend. It turns out that a rare, but serious side effect to Scruffy's thyroid medicine is the depletion of white blood cells. We aren't 100% sure that this is the cause of it with her, but it seems like a very likely probability. Her WBC count was in the high normal range prior to her starting her thyroid medicine. After starting the medicine, it dropped to a dangerous level. It is now a possibility that is being looked into. Today, after 3 days of not taking her thyroid medicine, her WBC count is starting to go back up.
In the meantime though, Scruffy continues to fight pneumonia and her prognosis right now isn't good. Pneumonia is hard to fight in general, and her body is in a position where it may not be able to fight it off at all. She still has a fever and she hasn't eaten anything in 3 days. She remains hospitalized, and our vet bills continue to grow and grow.
Knowing what we know now, about the possibility of the thyroid medicine causing the underlying issue, we don't feel that euthanasia is the right option for now. (We are also unsure why two emergency vets and two internal specialist vets didn't even consider the idea that the thyroid medicine was causing a problem. But that's an issue for another day. Right now our goal is to get Scruffy healthy and get our bills paid.) We feel that we need to give her a fighting chance to pull through this because if she does, she will still have a chance at a good quality of life. Right now, we are expecting the worst but hoping for the best. If she gets to a point where the only humane option is euthanasia, we won't hesitate to take her out of her pain. We have no intention of letting her suffer if we learn that there is nothing more that we can do to help her.
We run a cat rescue and currently have 16 other cats to take care of (10 adoptable cats, 1 feral cat, and 1 mama cat and her 4 newborns). This doesn't include the outside feral cats that we feed and TNR (Trap, Neuter, Return) or our 7 personal cats. While this area is in the height of kitten season, Scruffy's vet bills are putting us in a situation where we are unable to take in or help any more cats because we are no longer in a financial position to do so. By the time this is all done, we are looking at a total bill of close to $10,000 for all of her vet visits, hospitalizations and treatments.
Every dollar helps us help Scruffy. If you would prefer to donate through PayPal please contact us for the correct email address. We also have an Amazon Wish List linked on our Instagram and Facebook pages (@wendysplacecatrescue). Food and litter are items that we are constantly in need of. Every donation from our wish list frees up money in our pockets to put towards Scruffy's bills. In short, ANYTHING helps. If you are unable to donate, sharing this fundraiser helps too.
We couldn't run this rescue without support from you. We are eternally grateful to everyone who has supported us in this journey thus far!
***DISCLAIMER*** Please know and understand that Wendy's Place Cat Rescue is NOT a 501c3 non-profit organization. We are in the process of getting our paperwork together to incorporate as a non-profit, but at the moment we are still unofficial. Therefore, your donations will NOT be tax deductible.
Organizer
Wendys Place Cat Rescue
Organizer
Staunton, VA
